The Patron Saint of Mind Games and Fate
by Agent Sam
Summary: Younger Sarkney. They meet on vacation in New Orleans. Mind games and random happenings ensue. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**The Patron Saint of Mind Games and Fate**

**Title:** The Patron Saint of Mind Games and Fate

**Author: **Aliasfreek4life (Sam)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own alias or Sydney or Sark or any other people you recognize in this story.

**Other: **this is a story about Sydney going on vacation to New Orleans when she is 17, Irina is alive, and really is an English professor, Jack works with the CIA and Sydney and Irina know nothing about it. Sark's mom is alive and his dad is kinda evil.

**Chapter 1 **

"Are we there yet?" asked an impatient Sydney.

"Almost, Jack are we there yet?" asked Irina.

"NO, we're not, if we were you would know!" explained an annoyed Jack.

"This place is really cool." said Sydney who was looking out her window.

For Sydney's 17th birthday, the Bristow's decided to take her to New Orleans for a week.

"Turn left!!!" Irina shouted at Jack who looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel.

About 5 minutes after they left the car rental place the GPS unit died. So instead of turning around and getting a new one, Jack insisted that he could navigate by himself. But they ended up driving up and down the freeway for about an hour trying to find the hotel.

"We're here!" Irina sung happily while Jack went to the trunk to get the luggage out muttering what sounded like "Those women are going to give me a heart attack one day."

Irina heard him and hit him upside the head.

Soon the Valet came and drove the car off.

Sydney was off in space gazing at the décor of the place when she heard her mom call out.

"Huh?" she asked as she spun around quickly.

"Oof"

Sydney felt something solid connect with her luggage and fall down. She went wide eyed knowing what happened.

"Sydney I told you to watch out!" her mother told her, "at least offer the poor boy help up!"

Sydney turned around and saw a gorgeous blonde haired guy picking himself up off of the floor, "Oh my god!" she said panicked "I'm soo sorry!"

Sydney crouched down and extended a hand to the guy who looked very angry sitting there on the parking garage floor.

"Need help up?"

"No, I'm fine." The blonde guy said arrogantly while standing up.

_Score one for Bristow for pissing off the hottest guy you will ever see on this trip- and all within the first 5 minutes. _Sydney thought.

So, she stood back up and walked to the elevator where her parents were waiting- or rather talking to another couple and every so often glancing her way.

"Sydney, this is Andrian and Shanna, Andrian is an old school friend of mine." Irina explained.

"Nice to meet you- but why are we still waiting?" Sydney asked.

"Because the young man you just knocked down with your suitcase is their son." Jack informed her.

"Oh," Sydney said turning about as red as a tomato, she turned to the guy who was behind her "I'm really sorry about that!"

_God, that guy is a hottie! _She thought taking in the short somewhat curly blonde hair, his fair complexion, how tall he was _he must be at least 6 foot!_ ; But most of all his piercing ice blue eyes.

The blonde guy just looked at her looking a bit annoyed until his mother looked at him and said "Julian, aren't you going to say something to the girl? She apologized didn't she?"

"Yes mother," he growled "It's ok; you were probably not paying attention." He told Sydney.

She just blushed and looked away embarrassed.

In the elevator while the parents were discussing plans for dinner, two teenage minds were racing.

_Well, this is a big bonus to this vacation even though she's a total klutz, she is beautiful. _Julian thought as he gazed at her brown hair and eyes, her natural beauty and _Whoa, that girl is tall- if only she were wearing a short skirt…_

_Oh god- he's really hott, has a great name – not to mention the sexy British accent. But he's such a cocky bastard! _She felt someone's eyes on her and looked around only to see Julian looking at her – or rather her legs. _Is he checking me out? I need to call Francie! She'll know what to do!_

_ 0 _

"Well Sydney isn't Andrian and Shanna's boy Julian cute?" Irina asked

"Mom!" Sydney groaned.

"I'm only stating the obvious!"

"Well-" Sydney sighed, grabbed her luggage, and went into her room to change and freshen up for dinner thinking _If he likes my legs like that then maybe I'll wear that mini I brought.. This could be fun messing with his head…_

"Isn't that daughter of Irina's… Sydney I think her name is, beautiful?" Shanna asked Julian.

"Mom!" Julian groaned

"What? No comment?"

"No!" said Julian as he took his luggage to his room to change thinking _That woman is always trying to get me a girlfriend- can't she just mind her own business?_

_Hmm.. it might be fun to play mind games with Sydney, she obviously likes me- how she always is blushing like mad around me. _

He opened is suitcase and got out his most flattering outfit thinking _Oh, this is going to be fun…_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Yes, I have indeed posted this on SD-1 but it's a bit of a ghost town there in the Sark section anymore so I decided that I'd post it here and see what happened. Thanks **phi4858 **for your review!

This is a bit of a long chapter so as always, Read, Enjoy and please Review!

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Chapter 2 

About 10 minutes later, Sydney heard a knock at her door and her mom telling her to hurry up, that they would be leaving for dinner in 5 minutes and to meet in the hall when she was done.

She finished putting her makeup on and looked in the full-length mirror.

"If Francie could see me now." Sydney said to her reflection. She was wearing a red tank top with a plain black zip up jacket and a black denim mini. She took one last look at her reflection, grabbed her purse and walked out into the hallway.

Her parents weren't out there yet, after standing there for a minute, she decided to see what her parents were up to. Also she wanted to see her dad's reaction to her outfit.

She knocked on the door "It's me!" she called. Irina opened the door and let her in.

"Don't you look nice!" Irina told her fully knowing why she was looking so nice after all, she is a mother.

Jack came out of the bedroom ready to go but when he saw Sydney, he grunted and said ,"Irina! Why is our daughter wearing that skirt? It's too short!"

"No Jack, it's fine, it's what 17 year old girls wear. "Irina scolded while giving Sydney a reassuring look, "Let the girl have her fun."

Sydney sighed in relief and also tried to hold in a laugh at the look on her dad's face when Irina told him to 'let her have her fun'.

They left the room and got into the elevator. There was already a guy in the elevator about Sydney's age who looked her over with interest.

"Hi, I'm Michael Vaughn." He told Sydney.

"I'm Sydney." She told him thinking _God! What is it with this hotel? There are so many cute guys here and they all seem to be interested in me.'_

"So," he started again wanting to talk to her again and possibly get a date, "Where are you from?" he asked.

'_What is this guy some kind of stalker?' _Jack thought and before Sydney could answer, he said "It is none of your business where she is from who do you think you are? You're acting like a stalker!"

"Dad!" Sydney groaned

"Jack!" Irina growled at him.

Michael looked somewhat scared and didn't say anything for the rest of the ride down to the lobby.

Sydney thought _' What is Dad's problem today? He's being such an a , he had no reason to do that, even though this Michael Vaughn guy is kind of annoying even after two sentences…'_

The elevator finally got to the ground floor, they got out and Michael took Sydney aside.

Jack saw this and gave Vaughn a death glare, he was about to go over to him and knock some sense into him when Irina caught him and made him walk with her over to the Lazareys.

"Sydney, I know we have known each other for like only 5 minutes but would you go to a ball, it's for my dad's work, he's an ambassador, with me?" he asked hopefully.

"Umm," Sydney told him looking around, feeling someone's eyes on her, she found it was Julian and he looked _hott_.

"Sydney?" asked Vaughn seeing that she was not paying attention.

"Oh, sorry but I can't I'm going to be busy." She told him, but her mind was already somewhere else.

Vaughn walked away looking disappointed.

'_Oh God, he definitely caught me looking at him in the elevator.' _She thought while trying really hard not to blush.

0

15 minutes earlier in Julian's hotel room…

_'Hmm'_ Julian thought looking at himself in the bathroom mirror inspecting his hair, _'more gel? No.'_ he asked and answered himself.

He had already put some in to make his hair look like what girls called and thought was cute "bed head" , but he hated when he had too much gel in his hair and it got to feel crunchy, he already suspected he had put in too much anyway.

'_Good enough'_ he told himself stepping back from the mirror examining his whole outfit-he had to admit-_he looked good. _

He never usually wore gel or took this long getting ready but he was trying to catch Sydney off-balance. He could pull it off easily too, he was wearing faded looking jeans and a dark blue button up shirt.

Taking one last look in the mirror to make sure that he looked perfect and grabbed his room key. Walking out into the hall where his parents were waiting for him, immediately met with his mother making a face at his hair, his father seeing this, barked at him," Go fix your hair, it looks messy and you know how your mother hates it!"

"No father, this is the way I want it and this is how it is going to stay." He told his dad stalking off toward the elevator fully expecting glares and comments about his hair for the rest of the night.

Julian stood in the lobby enduring constant glares from his father while they waited for the Bristow's to get there, just then he heard the "Ding" of the elevator and he turned to look at who was getting out. _' They're finally here, I can't see her though-Oh- her father is looking at that guy like he wants him dead' _Julian thought while observing Jack giving a death glare to a guy who looked very scared but pulled Sydney aside anyway,

'_I can see her now-Oh- I guess she caught me looking at her legs in the elevator. With that outfit it will be hard to mess with her head.'_ He noticed how the guy from the elevator was asking her something, _'is he asking her out? She looks like she's actually considering it'_

Then much to Julian's surprise , after glancing around for a minute she looked straight at him, her eyes got wide for a second, then turned to look at who Julian had dubbed 'Elevator guy' she said something to him and he walked off looking defeated.

'_Well maybe it won't be as hard as I thought to mess with her head'_ Julian thought.

They ended up walking to a restaurant off Bourbon Street called ' The Gumbo Shop' .

Finally at dinner while waiting for the food to come, Sydney decided to break the ice and say something.

"So, Julian, where are you from, how old are you, and what is your favorite movie?" she asked all in one breath.

'_Oops, I guess I should have stopped at where are you from.' _Sydney thought nervously. But to her surprise, he answered all of them.

"Ok," he said, stopping to think for a minute, "London, England; seventeen; _The Sting_" he replied all in one breath, to irritate her she was sure, "You?"

Sydney groaned inwardly, _' I should have seen this coming, but what _is _my favorite movie?'_

"I'm from L.A.; I am seventeen; and I don't have a favorite movie, but if I had to pick…" she said.

"Which you have to." Julian interrupted/added.

Sydney looked at him annoyed at him for interrupting her, she continued "As I was saying, that I would pick an action movie but just to be on the safe side, it's a tie between 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Eurotrip'.

Seeing Julian roll his eyes at her long answer she defensively told him, "Well you're the one who asked."

"No it wasn't that what I was rolling my eyes at, it was you're choice of movies."

"What? Lawrence of Arabia is a classic! And Eurotrip is really funny!"

"Eurotrip is a stupid movie though."

"Have you even watched it?" Sydney asked suspiciously.

"Well no, but…"

"Then how do you know? To actually form an opinion of the movie you actually have to watch it!"

"Fine but what do you expect me to do? Go rent it from somewhere?"

"No, there's actually no need to you can borrow it from me because I brought it with me."

"You _brought it with you_?" Julian asked not believing that someone would bring a DVD as stupid as that on vacation with them.

They continued arguing until the food came and even after. The 'Parents' were watching them argue as they were talking with each other. Irina in particular thought it was very amusing.

When they were all done with their meals, the waitress came by to clean up and ask if they wanted any dessert.

"Sydney? Do you want cheesecake to take back to the hotel with you? I know you didn't finish your sandwich-and I don't blame you-it was huge but it's vacation after all." Irina asked Sydney.

"Yeah mom I love cheesecake." Sydney replied to her mom.

"One slice of cheesecake to go, and do you know where you can get a good Flaming Hurricane around here?" Irina asked the waitress.

"Well they aren't allowed to set drinks on fire any more but…"

Outside the bar that the waitress had suggested, the 'Parents' told Sydney and Julian to wait outside, when they came back Sydney asked "Can I walk back to the hotel? I'm feeling tired and I have a date with a large slice of cheesecake." She did not want to witness her parents consume large amounts of alcohol and take them back to the hotel with people giving her weird looks.

"Well honey-"Irina started

"No, I'm sorry Sydney, but I don't want you to walk these streets alone." Jack told her eyeing the bums walking around and huddled in groups.

"Excuse me sir but what if I took her back I am kind of tired too." Julian asked him also sharing Sydney's feelings about somewhat drunk parents.

Jack was caught between saying yes and no, he was suspicious of the boy taking Sydney back all by themselves _but he did use 'Sir'._ As Jack was musing over this, Irina perked up and told them to go.

" I think I'll even force Julian to watch Eurotrip with me." Sydney said with a mischievous look on her face.

"Have fun!" Shanna told them.

"But not too much fun!" Jack added.

Sydney and Julian walked off in the direction of the hotel.

"Thanks for taking me back to the hotel, I just don't want to end up with the responsibility of getting them back to the hotel and people giving me strange looks."

"I get the feeling." Julian told her.

"Whoa!" shrieked Sydney who tripped on the sidewalk edge, but before she could hit the ground, Julian caught her and hauled her back up.

"If I didn't know better I'd say that you were the drunk one." Julian told her smirking.

"It's not my fault that I'm clumsy!"

"Well that's not really true is it? I mean you're the one who tripped and almost fell! And who caught you? You didn't even say thank you!" Julian said acting hurt.

"Thank you Julian." Sydney told him "happy now?"

"You don't sound like you mean it." Julian replied sarcastically.

"You know that you can be a pain in the a sometimes right?"

"I can't believe that you would say that!" Julian said smirking yet again, "and to the man who saved you from falling of a sidewalk and making a complete idiot of yourself-and also from smashing your cheesecake."

"Fine!" Sydney told him as they were entering the lobby to their hotel.

As they were getting ready to press the elevator call button , the doors opened and Michael Vaughn/ Elevator Guy walked out, he saw Sydney laughing and Julian alongside her smirking. He scowled at them both and walked away.

They got into the elevator and Sydney pushed the 5 button, and then leaned back on the rail shaking her head and smiling.

"Who was that guy who scowled at us? I recognize him from before dinner, it looked like he asked you out." Julian asked.

"Oh, I met him in the elevator and he told me he was Michael Vaughn and asked me where I was from, then dad just flipped and accused him of being a stalker, the guy looked like he was so scared he was going to piss his pants and then he had the nerve to pull me aside and ask me to a ball. He was really annoying too, cowardly and it seemed like he thought he was God's gift to women and I guess he's pissed at me for saying no to him- bet he's never got rejected in his life either.." Sydney explained.

"Hmm.." mumbled Julian, who was thinking about what Sydney said about the ball, "what ball was it exactly?" he asked.

"All he said was that it was for his dad's work of being an ambassador."

'_Well lucky me I get to see him at the stupid ball mother is making me attend.. maybe I can take her and we could piss him off even more..'_

The elevator stopped and they got out.

"So, are you going to take me up on my offer?" Sydney asked him referring to borrowing Eurotrip.

"Yeah, sure I'll borrow it." Julian told her.

He trailed Sydney to her room and went in with her. He looked around while she dug through her suitcase.

"Here it is." She said handing the DVD to him.

"Thanks, um..do you want to watch it with me?" he asked

"Ok" Sydney answered happily she was hoping that he would ask that.

A while later, they were watching it and Sydney was eating her cheesecake in her PJ's , and Sydney had noted that he did smile and laugh a few times, but she also noticed him glancing at her cheesecake every so often.

"Do you want a bite?" she asked him.

"Well I don't want to take any of your precious cheesecake but yeah.. I do want a bite."

"Ok hold on let me find another fork.." she said rolling off the bed to dig through her purse.

Julian watched her dig through her purse and took this time to check her out. She looked up and saw him looking at her again, and she said " I found a fork and why are you looking at me like that?"

"I just noticed that you must work out or something because you have toned arms." He said lied smoothly, reaching for the plastic fork.

"yeah dad makes me go to fight lessons so I can defend myself but he still doesn't completely trust my skills yet even though I had to switch teachers twice because I surpassed them, now watch the movie!"

Julian obeyed and didn't say anything again until the movie was over.

"Well thanks for the movie and cheesecake, I hate to admit it but you were right it was a funny movie-stupid-but funny."

'_Julian you're not supposed to be eating cheesecake! You're supposed to be messing with her head!' _Julian scolded himself .

She walked him to the door and said goodnight, and before he left, he planted a feather like kiss on her lips and before she could respond, walked away.

Sydney sighed and closed the door _I will never understand guys- ever_,

And deciding that it was too late to call Francie, she went to bed.

'_That should keep her guessing for a while now..' _Julian thought as he walked away. _'Now I need to figure out a way to get mom to let me take her to the ball.'_

He just found his room key when his parents got back.

"Julian where were you?" Shanna asked him concerned

"I was in Sydney's room watching a movie remember?"

"Oh, yes I forgot, also I've been meaning to ask you, do you want to invite Sydney to come to the ball with us tomorrow?"

"Are you sober?" Julian asked thinking it was too easy, he thought he would at least have to ask her.

"What kind of question is that? Julian you know that I never get drunk!"

"Just…checking.."

"Ok, now go get some sleep and don't forget to ask Sydney about the ball tomorrow."

'_Hell, she must have made great friends with Irina..'_ was his last thought before dropping off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, it's chapter 3, sorry it took so long, I guess I'm trying to postpone writing anymore as long as I possibly can... Sad but true, but I think inspiration will come my way very soon. Let's hope. Thanks to my reviewers! Enjoy and review!

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Chapter 3

"Muh"Sydney groaned looking at her watch, it was only 5:00 in the morning.

'_How can it be this early?'_ she thought, she turned onto her side and looked at the bedside clock, '_What?? Now I'm really confused'_ seeing that it was somehow 8:00 all of a sudden.

'_Oh, time difference' _she thought getting up. She smiled remembering the night before and Julian's kiss.

She took a shower, got dressed-the whole morning routine, and made a plan that if Julian asked about the kiss that she would seem nonchalant- just to mess with his mind. She wrote a note for her parents explaining that she went down to breakfast, slipped it under their door and got into the elevator.

"Good morning." Said a voice that belonged to the very person she did _not _want to hear it from, _'Oh God, just what I really need right now.'_

"Hi." She told Michael trying to sound like she wasn't thinking about finding some creative way to dispose of him.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go to the ball with me?" he asked her hopefully.

"Yes, I'm very sure." She assured him.

"You're playing hard to get." He assumed (very wrongly) as they got out of the elevator.

_'Thank you god! He's here maybe I can go up and say hi, and this conceited ass will leave me alone.' _Sydney thought as she made her way over to Julian not even bothering to answer Michael's assumption.

"Hey Julian what's up?" Sydney asked as she sat down beside him, watching as Vaughn sulked off to the breakfast buffet.

"Good he's gone." Sydney mumbled to herself.

Julian just looked at her and smirked.

"So now you're using me?" he asked.

"Hey, if you were stuck in an elevator with that guy and he thought you were playing hard to get, then you'd be the one trying anything to get away."

"I'd be worried if _any_ guy thought that I was playing hard to get."

"Ha, ha, very funny. Now come with me to the buffet, I'm hungry and I don't want that guy cornering me again."

"I already ate though."

"Ok then you can make me a waffle while I get everything else."

"I am NOT making you a waffle." Sydney just rolled her eyes and dragged him to the buffet.

After Sydney got her breakfast, they sat down on a couch in the lobby, _'Well this is as good a time as any to ask her'_

"Sydney? Do you want to go to a ball with me?" he asked.

_'What is it with good looking guys, balls and elevators in this city? Not that I don't like the attention, it's just kind of strange-hey wait a minute, did he just say ball?'_

"Is it the same ball that Mr. conceited has been begging me to go to with him?"

"Yes, my mother is the ambassador to England." he said slyly.

"Why didn't you tell me before when it got brought up?" she said to him angrily.

"It didn't seem necessary. Will you go or not? Because if you are then you want to get an early start, I don't suppose that you have a ball gown lying around somewhere?"

"No, I don't and why do you sound so certain that I will even go with you?"

"Because you like me and are charmed by my great personality and good looks."

"You sound almost as conceited- no, wait more conceited than Michael Vaughn."

"Look, will you go or not? You can get over your anger and feminine issues while you are shopping for a dress, if you're going, you might want to get started as soon as possible."

With one last glare at him, she turned around and walked into the elevator.

Seeing that she was finally away from Julian, and that she looked angry at him, Michael jumped up from his seat on a couch where he was waiting for her to be alone again, and followed her to the elevator.

"What the hell do you want from me? Get out of here and leave me alone!" Sydney glared/growled at Michael when he started getting into the elevator.

"Umm, umm." Said Michael looking kind of freaked out, and then thinking better of it, turned and walked away.

Once the elevator doors closed, Sydney started laughing as she sent Francie the picture she took of the look on his face.

_'What an idiot, he didn't even realize I took a picture! Francie will love this!'_

0

"Mom!" Sydney yelled knocking on the door to her parents' hotel room.

"Yes?" her mom asked from behind her, making Sydney jump.

"What are we doing today?"

"Well, Shanna just invited you to go with them to an ambassadorial ball here at the hotel tonight so I told her that you would go, so today we are going to the salon and then shopping for a ball gown."

"But,"

"No buts Sydney, you're going to go." Irina told her.

"What's dad going to do?"

"Oh, he has some work to do I don't know how he stands it, he goes on vacation and still, they give him work." Irina sighed throwing up her hands.

"Shanna is also coming, just for fun."

"Ok, let me get my purse."

0

"This one, this one and this pretty blue one." Irina mumbled as she piled dresses into Sydney's arms. "Go try these on and show us what they look like."

5 minutes later, Sydney walked out of her dressing room and looked into the mirror, she had on a red silky dress that was strapless and had tons of beads on it.

"Look at you! You look-"

"Like I'm ready to do a belly dance?" Sydney asked.

"I was going to say nice but now that you mention it, yes, you really do." Said Irina trying not to laugh, while Shanna stood behind her and just shook her head and smiled.

Sydney went back into the dressing room and pulled on a very tiny black dress.

"Whoa, that's a bit short and not appropriate for the ball."

Sydney looked in the mirror observing the neckline, "I agree."

'_If I wore this to the ball, I would probably give the old people a heart attack.'_

"Sydney your phone is ringing." Shanna told her.

"Oh! It's Francie!" Sydney said happily as she picked it up.

"Hey, I got your pic, who was it?"

"Just this Michael guy who's been begging me to go to a ball with him."

"He's cute but you don't sound happy about it."

"He is the most annoying person in the world- even more annoying than Noah. So I just ended up telling him to get lost."

"Aha, so that explains the look on his face."

"Hey, I'm dress shopping right now and I have to send you a pic of this ridiculous dress I have on, hold on."

"Mom, could you please take a picture of me?" Sydney asked Irina handing the phone to her.

"Ok,"she took the picture and handed the phone back," Make it quick Syd, we need to get going."

"Oh my god, you look like a stripper!" Francie told her cracking up.

"Thanks a lot."

"I thought that you said you weren't going to the ball thing though."

"Not with Michael, with the son of one of my parents' friends."

"Is he cute?"

"Fran!" Sydney said turning red.

"Well is he?"

"Yes, but I have to call you back when I get back to the hotel ok?"

"Sure, bye!"

Sydney hung up the phone and noticed that her mom and Shanna were looking at her confused.

"Michael is the guy who we met in the elevator and dad accused of being a stalker. He's been asking me to this ball thing since yesterday." Sydney explained walking back into her dressing room.

Irina just gave Shanna a confused look and shook her head.

"You never know what they're talking about half of the time do you?" Shanna asked.

"No but it's kind of amusing."

Five shops and twenty dresses later, Sydney finally found what she called "the perfect dress".

"I just want to go back to the hotel and crash." Sydney moaned it was now about 3:00.

"Well, we're not done yet, we are going to lunch then we're taking you to the salon to get you're hair and makeup done." Irina told her.

"I heard that Marguritaville is a good place to eat, why don't we go there?" Shanna suggested.

"Ok"

Sydney took one last look at herself in the full length mirror on her hotel room wall thinking about how long it took to get it all together, they had to go back to the mall to get shoes and that took a long time then the makeover and manicure, plus the pedicure that they all decided to get (which wasn't so bad, it felt really good after all of the shopping that they did earlier.)

And the dress- it was the sexiest dress ever; it was dark blue, off the shoulder and floor length with some cleavage.

She stepped out of her room and was ambushed by her mom and dad, well mostly her mom who had a camera out and immediately started taking pictures.

"Can I please go now while I still have my vision partially intact?" Sydney asked.

"Yes you may, have fun!"

"Be back before 12:15 and don't go off alone with any boys!" Jack told her sternly.

"Dad!" Sydney said embarrassed.

Sydney made her way to the elevator praying that Michael wasn't going to be there, her prayers were answered, and no one was in the elevator at all.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she saw Julian, his parents and to her surprise, about 3 other guys hanging around talking to him. They all looked up as she walked toward them; they were all hot to some degree.

'_Crap.'_ Was all Sydney could think, "Um, hi." She said, unsure of what else to do, she introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Sydney Bristow."

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That's it for now! But the next chapter is already written and will be up pretty soon! Hope you enjoyed and that you'll review!

AgentSam


	4. Chapter 4

Sooo, ah sorry about the huge delay... That was very horrible of me. I seem to be stuck though on chapter 7. Extreme writers block I may say. So in that case I haven't wanted to post anything until I could get ahead and finish the story but I can't seem to right now.

BUT I would like to thank those who reviewed, it was very awesome of you. Alright now, get on with it! Read and review!

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Chapter 4

"Um hi,"was all she could think to say, then when she got her voice back, "Hi, I'm Sydney Bristow."

"Hello Sydney Bristow…" said a very sexy British voice, but not Julian's, "I'm Simon Walker, and if I may say so, you look very beautiful tonight."

"Thank you, you um, look nice too." She finished lamely, she was busy checking him out, he was somewhat tall, dark hair, grayish/bluish eyes, wearing a very nice tuxedo and looking extremely hott.

Shanna observed them, seeing Julian with a jealous look on his face and deciding that things would play out perfectly without her help, and led Andrian to the Ballroom.

Sydney's thoughts were interrupted by another of Julian's friends, who looked like a Spanish God of hottness, he had glossy dark brown hair and dark eyes, she also really liked the whole Spanish hottie look.

"Encantado Sydney." Said the Spanish God of Hottness. (_Enchanted to meet you Sydney) _as the hottie looked at her, Sydney felt her face flushing.

"Hola, como te llamas?" Sydney asked in Spanish. _(Hello, what's your name?)_

"Me llamo es Julio." He answered. _(My name is Julio)_

"Es un pleasure Julio." _(It's a pleasure to meet you Julio)_

The third guy just looked at the two speaking Spanish, and decided he couldn't compete so he just settled for saying "Hey" and looking away.

Sydney took her attention from the other two just long enough to say hello to the poor guy and see what he looked like, he was short, had brown hair, brown eyes and some pimples here and there. It wasn't like she had anything against pimples, it was just kind of a let down after meeting the other two hotties.

"Hi, what's your name?" Sydney asked.

"M-Marshall Flinkman," he stammered obviously embarrassed.

"Nice to meet you." Sydney said shaking his hand, then turned back to Julio and continued their conversation.

All the while, Julian stood back and watched his friends act like idiots trying to impress Sydney. But he had to admit that he was somewhat worried about her and Julio, it looked to Julian like they really hit it off.

_'Bloody hell she looks sexy tonight, no wonder my friends are hitting on her.'_ Julian thought checking Sydney out.

So, Julian took charge and walked up to Sydney who didn't even notice him until he was right there beside her.

"Ms. Bristow, unless I'm mistaken, _I_ am supposed to be escorting you to this ball." He said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and started walking toward the Ballroom.

"Um well, yeah you are," was all Sydney could manage to spit out, still in shock from his arm around her waist. She couldn't help but wonder, _''scuse I'm flirting here! Does he always have to be the center of everything? Or, is he jealous? Or am I just imagining things… those guys are hott, this is so cool, hott guys wanting to talk to me! Wait Syd, you're angry with Julian focus on anger, make him more jealous by flirting with the hotties.' _But she couldn't help but notice little sparks shooting up her spine at his touch.

The room was dimly lit, with candles on each table. The music was soft and classical, and there were already couples dancing on the elegant hardwood floor.

After they found a table, Julian and Simon went to get drinks while Sydney and Julio restarted their conversation and Marshall looked on miserably.

Meanwhile…

"Jules, how come you didn't tell me you were bringing a girl?" Simon asked Julian, " she's very attractive."

"Because I didn't plan on it, it just happened and don't get any ideas, I know how you are with the women." Julian told Simon, glaring at him.

"You should tell that to Julio, he looks like he's really getting along with Sydney." Simon said glancing back at the table where Sydney and Julio were talking/flirting with each other.

"Don't worry, that bloke will be taken are of," Julian started and sensing a person behind him, he grimaced to Simon and regretfully turned around "Hello Lauren."

"Julian it's been so long, you never return my calls anymore, did you change your number?"

Simon, knowing that if he stayed here any longer, he would be cornered too, rolled his eyes, grabbed his drink and left.

When he got back to the table, Simon started talking about how Lauren is still desperate.

"Who's Lauren?" asked Sydney.

"A girl who wishes that she was Julian's girlfriend." He answered, "And look, there are her friends now…" he said as more girls walked over to Julian.

"hmm, Sydney said as she got up, "I think I'll go get my own drink then..."

"I'll go get it for you." Julio offered her, but she turned him down.

"Try not to get stampeded over." Simon warned her as he pointed at the small crowd of girls that seemed to have just materialized next to Julian.

"Don't worry, I won't." she answered with a mischievous smile on her face.

'_Hmm, to save him from the mob or not.. I can't decide…I'll just let him make that decision.'_ Sydney thought walking over to the drink bar.

As she passed Julian he looked to her like he was -oddly enough- enjoying the attention.

'_That's it , I'm going in, I need revenge.'. _Sydney thought thinking about him interrupting her flirting.

Sydney pushed her way through the clump of girls drooling over Julian. With one last thought (_a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.._),she walked over to Julian and kissed him on the cheek while wrapping her arm around him, and then turned to look at the girls around her and said politely, "Sorry girls, he's taken."

Then took her drink that sat abandoned on the bar and walked away, saying " Julian love, I'll be waiting."

Julian stood there in some sort of shock as the girls around him looked angrily past him, at Sydney's retreating form, _'What just happened, I thought she didn't like me… this could have it's advantages,'_ Julian thought and started working on a new strategy.

With a smile on his face and a new plan in his head, he walked back through the crowd to his table anxious to see how things were going with Sydney and Julio.

As he made his way to the table, he noticed that Julio and Sydney went off to the dance floor and began dancing. When he got to the table, he started quizzing Marshall on what Sydney and Julio were talking about.

"Jules, calm down. I don't el speako Espanola!" Marshall told him as the last resort, he hated people rushing him and going Springer on him like that.

"Marshall's right man, if you keep doing this you'll lose your cool, I didn't even think you liked her that much anyway." Simon told him.

Julian took a deep breath and quickly thought of some other way to put his plan in action. _'why am I acting like this, I don't even like her that much…do I?'_

Julian, figuring out how his new plan was going to work, got up and walked across the dance floor to where Julio and Sydney were dancing.

"May I cut in?" Julian asked as Sydney glared at him for interrupting.

"Yes, you may," Julio said regretfully, "But I'll be back." And with that, Julio walked off into the crowd, and almost immediately got cornered by Lauren.

After Julio walked off, Julian wrapped his arm around Sydney's waist and grabbed her hand with his other. And they began dancing.

"Why do you have to ruin everything?" Sydney growled at him.

"I didn't ruin anything, you are my date after all."

"Since when are you so possessive?"

"Since my date became smitten with my friend." He said smugly.

"I am not smitten! I can't help it that he's a hottie." She told him blushing as she did so.

"You think he's a hottie?"

"Why? Are you jealous?" Sydney asked, hoping that her plan had worked.

"I am _not _jealous" he said but it didn't sound convincing. Right before he could bring up that she was probably the jealous one, the music changed to the Tango.

"Do you know how to dance the Tango?" Julian asked, not sure and wanting to change the subject.

"I think the question is, do _you_ know how to Tango?"

And so it began, the Tango is a dance of structure, but for Julian and Sydney, it was competition about who could lead and who could be the most serious with over exaggerated poses. So they danced with mock seriousness and passion, which might have been more obvious if they were really serious.

When the dance was over, they started laughing, but to their surprise, they heard applause, looking around, they saw it was for them. So they looked at one another in confusion, then took a bow.

"I have never seen a young couple dance as well as you two have just now, where did you learn to dance like that? There was passion, heat, and exaggerated poses, I am truly impressed." Said an oriental man wearing a tuxedo and strange, tiny round glasses.

"My mom." Sydney answered at the same time as Julian who said "My mum."

Soon the attention was off them and they went to sit down, Julian had his arm around Sydney's waist and this time she didn't mind at all.

When they got back to the table, Julio was sitting close to Lauren but looked up and gave Julian a sour look that said 'I can't believe you made me have to dance with Lauren'

Simon was sitting with a black girl who looked exactly like Francie but unlike Francie, she gave off a mean aura.

And poor Marshall was sitting alone, talking to everyone about how he came up with a great scheme to win blackjack and poker. Sydney vowed to herself that by the end of the night, she would find a girl for Marshall.

But as she was sitting there, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her and that the people weren't really ambassadors at all, that there was something else happening, something big.

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Alright, now that you've read it and hopefully enjoyed it... Review please? And I would like to encourage you to give me your opinion on where you see this going, it may help with my brain blockage in this area!

Thanks!

-Agent Sam


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

From:

To:

Subject is in place. Surveillance is set up. Project Christmas is entering Phase Two.

'Stop being paranoid. I mean, if the people here weren't really ambassadors surely someone would notice. Right? Right.'  
So she stopped listening to the crazy voice in her head, remembering that she had a job to do. She sat up a little straighter and scanned the crowd around her and started looking for just the right person.  
Julian, noticing that Sydney was no longer with him mentally, took the opportunity to start revising his plan of action; it finally begun when Sydney suddenly smiled and started getting out of her chair.

"Sydney, darling? Where are you going?"

" I am going to find someone to help me with something." She replied vaguely not quite sure what happened. So to play along, she reached out and brushed her hand over his hair.

"Why do you need someone else when I am right here willing to do anything for you?" Julian asked her, moving her hand so that it was cupping his face.

Sydney got what he was doing and said "its ok honey,"

By this time there was definitely an 'I know that you know that you know that I know' type of thing going on and everyone at the table knew it and stopped talking to watch.

"If you knew what I needed help with, you would definitely not have asked that question." And upon seeing the confusion on his face, added "I'll be back sooner than you know it Julie-poo."  
Trying not the bust up laughing at the look he got on his face after she said that, she left.

"You know that she knows right?" asked Simon, and in response got a nasty look from Julian and deciding to provoke him even more added, "Just checking Julie-poo don't need to get so wound-up about it."

After leaving Julian thoroughly confused, she got to work. She weaved through the crowd to a group of girls about her age and approached one.

"Hi, I'm Sydney."

"I'm Carrie, nice to meet you." Carrie said unsure of why some strange girl just walked up and started talking to her.

"You don't have a date here do you?"

"Umm…no. Why?"

"Because, I have a guy who you would look really cute with but, he's too shy to ask you to dance." Syd said to Carrie hopefully.

"Can you point him out to me?"

"Yes, he's not that hot, I know but he has a great personality." She said, pointing at Marshall, "By the way, his name is Marshall."

"Looks ok, I guess you could introduce me…"

"Let's go!" and Syd started pulling a still unsure Carrie through the crowd.

"Hey Marshall, this is Carrie. And Carrie, this is Marshall." Said Sydney, quickly introducing them to each other.  
Carrie and Marshall looked at each other for a minute as Marshall started to get red from imaginary pressure. Finally, after Simon elbowed him in the side, Marshall started talking. And stuttering. And babbling. Carrie smiled at this and whispered something into his ear which made him even redder and gave him a goofy grin on his face.

"Sydney, love. That was a very nice thing you did for my friend," Julian whispered into her ear in a low tone, making Sydney blush and Julio scowl at them.

"Well I just thought that he needed someone to talk to and hangout with tonight. " Sydney said into his ear while smiling at the look of jealousy that Julio was now fixating on Julian.

"I've got to go." Sydney told Julian. It was midnight and the ball was nearing an end, Simon and Allison had just snuck out of the ball along with some other couples, and half of the guests had already left.

"Sydney, are you sure you can't sneak off with me for a little while at least?" Julian pleaded.

"Not unless you want my father coming down here and shooting you on sight."

"Very funny."

"I'm being perfectly serious."

"I know but you take all the fun out of everything."

"You can probably walk me to my door though…" Sydney said suggestively. Julian perked up at this and led her to the elevators.

They got an elevator all to themselves and Julian pressed the button for their floor then leaned against the panel. Sydney was standing against the wall across from him making it obvious that she was checking him out. Suddenly, there was a jolt and the elevator stopped.

"We're stuck." Julian pointed out obviously taking this as a chance to woo her, "Did I tell you that you looked stunning tonight?"

Sydney blushed, "No, I don't believe you did,"

"You look stunning tonight." He took a step toward her.

"Thank you, and you look very handsome in a tux."

He took another step toward her so that he was right in front of her. She caught a slight whiff of his cologne. " Thank you." He said in a husky voice.  
By now there was a definite blush rising up from her, turning her face and neck red. She could swear that he could feel warmth radiating off of her.

"I had a great time tonight." Sydney said.

"Me too," he replied in the same tone. He was driving her crazy.

She was looking up into his eyes and she saw that they had somehow changed from a light icy blue to a darker ocean like blue. She felt like there were butterflies fluttering around in her stomach and stood up straighter. 'Mind games Sydney, mind games, don't let him think he has all of the control.'  
She reluctantly slid from where she was in front of him and stood in the middle of the elevator facing the doors. He turned around and moved so that he was in front of her again.

"Couldn't stand being away from me?" Sydney asked.

"Don't you wish." He replied.

'Julian you've got her where you want her, now do something!' he thought.  
He could tell that she was going to move away again, so he put his hand on her hips and backed her up to a wall. They brushed up against the control panel but didn't notice.

"I've got you where I want you." He said.  
She knew that she was losing control of herself and didn't care.

"Yeah me too." Said a very familiar but very unwelcome voice of Jack Bristow, "If you would be so kind as to step away from my daughter, I might let you go back to your room unscathed." He said to Julian.

Sydney pushed him away angrily and told Jack, "We weren't going to do anything, besides it was a date, I have every right to kiss my date Dad."

"Sir, I am sorry that we're late coming back from the ball but your daughter is seventeen and she's right, it was a date."

"Mr. Lazarey, I-" Jack started to say but suddenly and unexpectedly had gotten cut off by Irina.

"Jack, Sydney had every right to be on a date and kiss her date, so let's go back inside the room and let them finish their date in peace." Irina persuaded Jack, then as they were shutting the door to their room, Irina gave Sydney a wink.  
This time, Sydney wasn't blushing because of Julian, it was her parents.

"I'm sorry that you had to endure that, my dad is just a little bit over protective."

"No problem, but do I dare take the risk of walking you to your door? Who knows what could happen then?"  
They started walking the short walk to Sydney's room. They stopped walking and Julian waited as Sydney dug out her key from her purse.

"You know this would have been undoubtedly more exciting if we weren't interrupted earlier."

"Undoubtedly." Sydney said as she swiped her card and started to open her door.  
He grabbed her hand and said, "Do you really think you're getting off that easily?" and he leaned down, hands sliding around her hips once again and he kissed her. She felt breathless all at once as his soft lips met hers.  
She finally had to forcibly push him away from her before things got more serious and regretfully said goodnight.


	6. Chapter 6

So... I've had this chapter forever, just didn't realize it wasn't on here... I'll be writing more to this story and hopefully be finishing it soon. So, read on!

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**Chapter 6**

Sydney woke up the next day refreshed and happy. Things were really starting to pick up with Julian, even though it never was slow. _What can I do today that would make him crazy?_ She thought to herself as she did her morning routine.

"Francie!"

"Yes?"

"I have got to tell you about my night last night!" exclaimed Sydney.

"What happened? Tell me all about it!"

And she did just that, Sydney gave Francie all of the details of the night before and the night she got to New Orleans. When she got off the phone, she had a wonderful plan as to what to do that day.

Without bothering to check in with her parents, she made her way down to the breakfast buffet to see if Julian was there. He was, of course.

"You're late." He told her pointedly as if he were insulted.

"You keep track now huh?"

"No, it's just that without you here I'm forced to talk to strange people."

"And that's bad why?" Sydney asked amused.

"I don't like strange people, they either try to flirt with me or make small talk."

"And small talk is the end of the world isn't it?"

"Do you know how many times in 30 minutes I have had to say the same comment about the weather?" he asked clearly irritated, "7 times!"

"Oh get over it, come help me get my breakfast." In the end, he scowled at her 'insensitivity' but went along anyway.

Sitting down at a table to eat he asked about what they were going to do that day. Sydney suggested the French Market, The River walk, and just generally exploring the French Quarter.

Once Sydney got back to her room, she decided to see what her parents were doing and to see if her father had recovered from last night.

"Is it okay if I run around with Julian all day?" Sydney asked her parents.

Irina gave Jack a scathing look as she said that it was perfectly fine. As Jack slunk into the bathroom, Irina asked if Sydney had a good time last night.

"Yes" She blushed.

"Have a nice day and be at the dock at the square beside the mall by 4:30."

"Where to?" Julian asked as he intertwined his fingers with hers.

"Let's go get some beignets first. Then explore the French Market." Sydney suggested, trying not to let on that she was about to start hyperventilating because of him holding her hand.

They walked to the café hand in hand and Sydney could see some women giving Julian some long stares.

The café was crowded and partially outdoors. A man was standing on the corner beside them playing some old fashioned jazz.

"Alright, it's the moment of truth," Sydney began to say as Julian gave her a quizzical look, "Tell me about yourself, I know pretty much nothing about you."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that the truth takes time?" Julian playfully asked," But since you asked so nicely, I may just give you some hints, what do you want to know?"

Sighing, Sydney leaned back in her chair, "School, friends, growing up…"

"Well, starting with the topic of growing up, I can say that I have lived in America and England. Mostly England though, since it's where I go to school…"

"What about Simon? How do you know him? Any great boyhood adventures?" Sydney asked.

He cocked his eyebrow as he thought, "I've known Simon for most of my life, and we played when we were kids and have grown up together. We met Marshall and Julio at our school and have been friends ever since. As for boyhood adventures, there were many but the most memorable by far would be… wait, I said I'd give you hints! And now listen to me, I'm spilling my whole life!" He said sarcastically.

"Why are you upset about that? I'm asking you to tell me about yourself… being secretive isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"But being a mystery is a turn on and if I gave it all away, you might just loose interest." Julian explained mock dramatic.

"How could I lose interest when your manly physique is what I'm into?" Sydney sarcastically explained,"Enough distraction! Not get on with the story!"

"Fine, but remember when you lose interest that I warned you! We were all about 12 at the time of what we fondly refer to as 'The Great Escape'. You see, we had this horrendous headmaster at the time and he was inexplicably terrible… don't ask. So, we got together to make an escape plan, we were really fed up. Marshall who has a knack for computers, set us up on a comm. system and assigned us codenames, mine was 'Mr. Sark' I believe and we set out to escape from the horrors of boarding school. The school is locked up at night and it takes two keys to unlock it used at exactly the same time, so Julio and Simon stole the keys out of the staff commons as I made a distraction," Julian got an evil glint in his eye as he mentioned distraction, " then, in the dead of night we crept out of our dormitories and stealthily made our ways to the doors, Marshall keeping us updated on the security methods as we went along, we were separated, we finally got to the doors and turned the keys exactly how we were supposed to and-"

"What! What happened?" Sydney burst out, unable to wait for it.

"Sydney, you should know better than to interrupt a man while he's in the middle of a story!" Said a voice behind her that she semi-recognized and made her jump.

"Simon!" She exclaimed while Julian looked at the two with great irritation.

"Ahem! Are you ready to hear the end?" Julian asked.

"Oh, sorry! Go on." Simon said, realizing what he had done.

"Well, we turned the keys and an alarm sounds! There must have been another backup lock that we didn't foresee-"He says, getting cut off again by Simon.

"And all of us get caught except Jules here who somehow managed to get himself in an air duct. The faculty threatened us all with expulsion if we didn't tell them where Julian was so, what happened was that Professor Fuller, took Marshall's computer and found out how we were communicating . He made a message over the comm.-link that sounded something like 'Mr. Sark, we know that you are running amok in the school somewhere and if you don't turn yourself in immediately, yourself and your buddies here will all be expelled.' It would have been funny if we had not been scared shitless." Simon reminisced.

Sydney, laughing as she spoke, asked about how it turned out.

"Well," Julian said," The Headmaster thought that we should all be expelled but if it weren't for Professor  
Fuller, we would have been. He thought it was hilarious and ingenious. Our punishment was dining hall cleanup for the remaining year and all of the teachers calling us by our 'codenames'."

"Do I get to call you Mr. Sark now?" Sydney pleaded.

All Julian answered with was a glare that obviously meant _'Do it and I will kill you'_but she took it as a yes.

"Simon, what was your name?"

"Night crawler, and Julio's was 'bobo' and Marshall was ' Merlin'. "

"Julio did know that bobo means clown right?"

"We were never very sure about anything with him…" Sydney took that as a '_don't ask'_, so she didn't.

As Simon got the hint from Julian, that he should leave, he slunk away and the two were alone again… well, except for all of the people around them anyway. They finished their breakfast/brunch beignets with Julian telling more things about himself.

"Where to Mr. Sark?" Asked Sydney as they were wandering around the River Walk. They had already explored the French Market and Sydney bought her souvenir Voodoo dolls for herself and Francie and bought some interesting necklaces that were beaded and had little rubber ducks that had devil horns on them. Although, Julian was teasing her about who she had to flash to get the necklaces, she managed to have a great time.

"Well, Ms. Bristow, we still have an hour before we have to be at the dock and for the sake of pure curiosity, I would love to challenge you to a spar match." He told her with a little glint in his eye.

"Fine, you've got it just lead me there. I can't wait to kick your butt!"

They easily discovered a Tae Kwon Do place, paid for robes and mat time. Sydney and Julian walked out onto the mats from opposite ends of the room. Meeting in the middle, they bowed, it was on.

They looked unwavering at each other, daring the other to make the first move. Julian smirked and Sydney snapped. She launched herself at him and delivered a roundhouse kick to his torso, he ducked just in time. He countered with a quick one-two punch and he made some contact but not enough to take her down. Julian wasn't focused; it seemed that was what sparring with pretty girls did to him. She aimed a high kick to his gut and he fell. She pinned him to the ground and rolled her eyes.

"You should really concentrate on the fight than on other things." Sydney told him with a sultry wink.

"How do you know I was unfocused? For all you know, I could have just let you win." He bit back.

"However you view it, I still won."

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**Reviews Please! **


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Hey all... I truly suck at the whole updating thing... But hey, I'm putting along. I've finally settled on how I want this to go so the updates may come quicker... No promises though!

I am calling this chapter **The Enemy Walks In**. You'll find out why after reading. Enjoy!

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Chapter 7

"Umm… Mom?" Sydney asked amused yet impatient on her cell phone. She was standing with Julian at the designated rendezvous point their parents told them to be at promptly by 4:30. It was now 4:31 and both sets of parents were nowhere to be found.

"Yes darling? –Hold on a moment Sydney… Jack! What time is it?" Sydney heard her father in the background telling her mother that it was indeed a few minutes past 4:30. "Oh Sydney! I'm so sorry! We were all supposed to go on a ferry boat trip to a battlefield!"

"It's okay mom, are you going to come meet us? Because the ship leaves pretty soon…"

"Yes! We're on our way now… Sorry honey!"

Sydney sighed and hung up the phone, she turned to Julian who was still on the phone with his mother. By his exasperated sighs she knew his mom was grilling him about their day together. _'Now would be the perfect time to mess with him…'_ Sydney thought, knowing that he wasn't going to be getting off the phone too soon.

Julian was leaning against a large landscaping planter having a rather unenjoyable conversation with his mother when he suddenly felt a hand snaking its way up his spine. He gasped thinking it was another hobo coming to try and spit shine his shoes or worse, an overly excited street walker, but when he turned he saw that it was just Sydney. He raised an eyebrow, confused.

'_Hmm… Maybe I should try something more direct'_ Sydney thought seeing Julian's confused face. She moved closer and pressed herself against him, lightly brushing his unoccupied ear with her mouth. He made a strangled choking sound.

"Julian? Are you okay?" Shanna asked hearing her sons voice falter.

"I'm…" Julian began to say feeling Sydney's lips maneuver down his neck, "fiine… I need to go now mom. See you soon." He said, quickly closing his phone and fixing a glare on Sydney. _'Uh-Oh'_ she thought as she took a step away and gave him her most innocent look.

"Miss Bristow what did you think you were doing?" Julian asked in an indecipherable way, arms folded across his chest.

"Well… Mr. Sark, maybe I'm trying to tell you that I have an itch that only you can scratch…" She replied pulling out her sauciest remark yet knowing it would confuse and hopefully intrigue him. _'Oh man, I should NOT have said that! And itch only you can scratch? That sounds like some cheesy line! Wait! It IS a cheesy line! And it sounds so dirty too… Let's hope I can recover from this one. Smooth move Bristow… smooth move.'_

Julian opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the arrival of their parents.

"Julian!" Shanna called, still concerned about her son's erratic behavior, "Are you alright? You look quite flummoxed dear." She said, looking at the odd look on Julian's face.

"Yes mum, I am alright. Now please, can we just get on the boat already?"

"Son, don't speak to your mother like that!" Andrian told him sternly.

And with that, they all turned to the boat. Which more accurately described was a steam powered paddle boat, or as the captain explained, a paddlewheeler, called the Creole Queen. It was rather large, white and fairly old looking.

"Great, trapped on a boat with my parents, a confusing but gorgeous girl, and _her_ parents, just what I need to make my day complete." Julian muttered under his breath at the same time Sydney was exclaiming to her parents how cool this boat tour would be.

Aboard, the boat was pretty nice, even Julian had to admit. The boat itself was old but it was very relaxing to just sit on the deck and enjoy the sun and scenery as the captain talked about the history and facts of the area. Plus, there was an excellent buffet serving a variety of Cajun dishes.

Once finished with the food, Sydney got up and announced that she was going to take a walk around the boat.

"That sounds like a great idea Sydney, I'll join you." said Jack, proving to Julian for the first time that Jack actually a caring father, not just overly protective.

"Sounds great Dad." Sydney said with a genuine smile. One on one time with her father was rare and greatly coveted by Sydney.

"So how was your day on the town Sydney?" Jack asked.

"It was really great! Julian is fun to hang out with, and we hit all the cool touristy spots. We had coffee and benigets from café du monde, then went to the French Market where I picked up a souvenier voo doo doll for Francie along with these necklaces. You like?" Sydney asked.

Jack looked at his daughter's neckware and chuckled. "Those are some interesting choices for necklaces. Classic beads just weren't _cool enough_ for you?" Jack asked in a rare show of sarcasm.

Sydney laughed, "Well, when presented with such colorful options what choice did I have? Also, you're going to be proud of this. Today Julian challenged me to a sparring match."

"Did he now? I thought you and I had talked about being discreet with your martial arts skills?"

"Oh Dad, it's not like he's going to tell everyone." Sydney sighed, "_Anyways_, I totally kicked his butt. Which I thought you might like to know as you're the one making me take all the lessons."

"I see, well good job then Sydney. I always knew you would excel in hand to hand combat." Jack said with a hint of a smug smile on his face.

"So I'm guessing you guys had a good time today as well? Judging by your losing track of time." Sydney remarked.

"We did, we all went for a tour of the Garden District then headed for Hurrah's on a wild suggestion from your mother."

Conversation trailed off from there and they lapsed into an easy silence as they leaned on the rail, taking in the view and listening to the captain's spiel. _'Dad is being so fatherly today, I wonder if mom talked to him? But it is nice to have him take an interest and not just act like a pit bull to the guys who show interest in me.'_

As the boat was docking at the site of the battlefield, Jack and Sydney met up with the rest of their group. The closer they got, the more questions they could hear Irina and Shanna asking Julian about his and Sydney's day. Sydney internally giggled, knowing that she got off easy… for now anyways. Her mom would most definitely grill her about Julian tonight.

The battlefield was pretty much just like any other battlefield, except for the random tree in the middle and the cool looking house over to one side. There was a field, some cannons set up at either end and the standard gift shop/information booth with a few tour guides milling around in search of groups of people to enlighten. One such guide found the Bristows and Lazareys and began to explain to them the significance of the random tree in the middle of the field.

Sydney, who has always been a history buff, began paying close attention to what the guide was saying about the tree. However, Julian found the spiel quite boring and began plotting his next move to mess with Sydney as much as she messed with him earlier.

The guide was finally done talking about the tree and was now moving everyone towards the model cannons. With a plan in his head, Julian grabbed Sydney by the wrist and led her into the house on the side of the battlefield.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing? I was actually enjoying the tour!" Sydney grumbled to Julian as he led her into a corner of the house.

"And here I thought you would be wanting me to scratch that itch for you…" Julian replied.

Sydney's eyes widened, '_I didn't think he'd actually go along with that… What is he planning?'_ she thought frantically as Julian moved closer and closer to her, effectively trapping her in the corner.

"You know what? It-it kind of went away I think…" Sydney said in an almost whisper, eyes diverted downward, her nerves were finally getting the better of her. She could stand up and give speeches in front of her whole school but when it came to a guy she liked trying to seduce her, her vocal cords turned to jelly.

"Nervous, Sydney?" Julian asked with an innocent look on his face. _'Well for once it finally looks like I'm winning this battle of wits. Who knew she looked so adorable when she was nervous?'_

At this point, Julian was only inches away from her and looking into her eyes with his beautiful blue stare. He moved his right hand and placed it on her hip causing her to gasp softly.

'_Pull it together Syd! He's just trying to unnerve you and you're letting him! Woman up!'_ Sydney thought to herself, trying to get over the millions of butterflies in her stomach and the way she felt when she looked into his eyes. _'Here goes nothing'_ she thought. Reaching her hands up, she placed one around his neck, weaving her fingers through his hair and the other just above his heart.

"Never" Sydney told Julian with a daring look in her eyes. Julian barely had time to form a thought before she kissed him.

His lips on hers, all he could think was, _'God I hope no one interrupts this…'_ and surrendered himself to the kiss. Sydney may have been the one to initiate the kiss but he was the one to deepen it, parting her lips with his tongue. He wrapped an arm around her waist and with his other hand, reached up to cup her face.

Slowly, they broke from their kiss, needing a breather. They looked up into each other's eyes for a moment until Julian pressed Sydney against the wall and began kissing her again.

"Wait- Julian," Sydney broke from the kiss to gasp, Julian just moved his kisses to her neck, "mmm… What if… what if our parents… come looking for us?" she was finally able to ask.

Julian took a brief break from Sydney's neck, "We'll hear them calling for us," and latched back onto her lips.

The two stayed entwined like that until they heard the boat horn calling them for the cruise back to city. Sydney gently pushed Julian away.

"We should get going… That was… " Sydney began but then thinking better of gushing to Julian how great he was, " That was fun." She finished nonchalantly.

"Fun? Just… Fun? Is all you have to say?" Julian asked her, "I gave you the best I had!"

Before Sydney had a chance to answer, a strange voice began, "Well that was quite a show, must say I heartily enjoyed it."

Julian quickly spun around, he somehow sensed that this new person was a threat. "Who the hell are you?"

"You know… I'm the one in charge here, I will be the one asking the questions pretty boy." The stranger replied.

"What gives you the right..?" Asked Sydney with venom in her voice.

The stranger held up a gun, "This does."

* * *

**So, hope you like the cliffhanger and finally some uninterrupted Syd/Sark smoochie time. Please review! I would like your opinion on this chapter and whole story for that matter. **

**Sam**


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